San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer, right) talks with investigators near the scene of a shooting Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008, on Hobart Avenue in San Mateo, Calif. Two people are dead after a shootout between police and an armed suspect at a San Mateo home. Authorities say a SWAT team went to the house Tuesday morning after a man called to report that an armed robber had entered the residence with his wife and two children inside. (AP Photo/San Mateo County Times, John Green) less

San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer, right) talks with investigators near the scene of a shooting Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008, on Hobart Avenue in San Mateo, Calif. Two people are dead after a shootout between ... more

Photo: John Green, AP

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Members of a SWAT team gather near the scene of a shooting inside a home in San Mateo, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008. Two people are dead after a shootout between police and an armed suspect at a San Mateo home. Authorities say a SWAT team went to the house Tuesday morning after a man called to report that an armed robber had entered the residence with his wife and two children inside. (AP Photo/San Mateo County Times, John Green) less

Members of a SWAT team gather near the scene of a shooting inside a home in San Mateo, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008. Two people are dead after a shootout between police and an armed suspect at a San Mateo ... more

Photo: John Green, AP

Police: Slain San Mateo mom stalked for weeks

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It's the stuff of a suburban nightmare.

The woman shot to death in her San Mateo home while handing her two small children out the window to police was fleeing a stalker who had sneaked into her home through a partially opened garage door as her husband left for work Tuesday, Police Chief Susan Manheimer said Wednesday.

"This was not a random attack or a home invasion robbery, but an incident of stalking," Manheimer said at an evening news conference. "In the past several weeks, he has pursued her through the Internet, and there may be other contacts as well."

Police are investigating how Raymond Gee, 22, of Oakland first came into contact with Loan Kim Nguyen, 24, a beauty pageant contestant who hoped to one day become a television news anchor. Investigators don't know if the two had ever met in person before Tuesday morning, Manheimer said.

But Gee, whom Manheimer described as "an unstable individual" with a history of weapons possession, was apparently staking out Nguyen and her family.

A neighbor told police that he had spotted Gee's Toyota sedan in the neighborhood in the weeks prior to Tuesday's attack, police said.

Sometime before 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, police say, Gee slipped into the couple's home at 29 Hobart St. as Nguyen's husband, Dennis Quan, left to his job as a Wachovia bank executive.

Once inside, Gee attacked Nguyen, repeatedly threatening to kill her, Manheimer said. There was no evidence of a sexual assault, the chief said.

Nguyen was able to call 911, Manheimer said, but it's unclear if she made the call before or after she sent a text message to her husband telling him there was an intruder in the home and she was being robbed.

A 911 call apparently from Nguyen's husband alerted police, who spotted a man inside the house with a handgun beating a woman, Manheimer said. As officers approached the house, yelling at the man to drop the gun, he fired a shot that barely missed them, the chief said.

Nguyen escaped into a bedroom, where she barricaded herself with her children, a 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. As she handed the second of her children out the window to police officers, Gee opened fire through an adjoining bathroom wall. Police fired back, and Nguyen was fatally struck in the exchange.

Manheimer said Wednesday that the preliminary results of an autopsy and the angles of fire suggest that Nguyen was hit by Gee rather than by police. Preliminary findings also suggest Gee killed himself with a single shot under the chin as police stormed the house.

Although Manheimer said the case appears to be a murder-suicide, the San Mateo County coroner and a top prosecutor both said further forensic testing is needed.

"We will wait until everything is in," Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. "We will look at the whole picture very carefully, but I wouldn't disagree with her in any fashion in what it appears to show."

Manheimer declined to say where the online interaction between Gee and Nguyen occurred. She also declined to provide details about Gee's history with weapons, only saying he was arrested for possession of a loaded firearm in another county.

"My goal is to one day rise up to be the next most influential Vietnamese American news anchor working for the Vietnamese community," she wrote in 2005 as a beauty contestant.

As a 5-foot-7 college student, Nguyen participated in the Miss Vietnam Tet Pageant of Northern California in February 2005.

"I describe myself as a hard worker, a dedicated daughter/sister, and a fun person to be around," she wrote in a contestant profile. "Being a Vietnamese American woman, I feel I have the best of both worlds. Having the opportunity to explore both cultures is a privilege."

She listed her hobbies as spending time with her family and eating out with friends.

Manheimer called Nguyen a hero for saving her children.

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"This is an incident of immense and tragic proportion," Manheimer said. "A mother and wife and daughter and sister was needlessly taken in a brazen act of violence."

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